With Images’s imprint Shadowline opening up for submissions, I thought it was time to go over the things they’re looking for really quickly.

Like I’ve been saying over and over again, listen to exactly what they want. Don’t overthink. Really, if you overthink what they want or don’t do exactly what they say, then you’re not ready. (They even tell you that, right there in #1.)

Their rules are pretty simple. A lot of new creators fail because they do their absolute best to make the easy things more difficult. There aren’t any hoops.

Jpgs of the first five pages and a cover. No more than five issues for the initial story arc. They want to see your logo on the cover. Synopsis and cover letter should be in word files. No zipped files. Really, it doesn’t get any easier than that.

Here are some tips on making a cover. Remember, this is the first thing your potential reader is going to see.

Here are some tips on making a logo. It has to be readable. It has to be legible. Want to see a lot of bad logos? Go to Comixology Submit. If you have to squint or think that there are some letters that could be other letters, if you can’t immediately tell the name of the book without taking a few moments…then you need a better logo.

You might want to think of a good company name. This is going to be important because this is going to be your identity. This is how you’re going to present yourself to the world. It has to mean something to you. (Image means something, and it continues to mean something. Todd McFarlane Productions is simple, and Shadowline meant something at one point, but what does Top Cow mean? What did it ever mean? (Sure, there can be a Shakespearean argument made for what’s in a name, but there are reasons why some names are better than others.)